Atop Mount Kaya sits the Temple of Haeinsa – which houses the Tripitaka Koreana, the most complete Buddhist text collection, made with 80,000 woodblocks, in 1237-1248. The woodblocks were housed in special buildings, Janggyeong Pangeon, which constructed purposely to accommodate them beginning in the 15th century; the building are in themselves considered exceptional works of art. As Tripitaka’s oldest depository, they expose an astounding mastery of conservation technique invention and implementation employed to preserve these woodblocks. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available. For 360 degree imaging of this site, click here.

Haeinsa (Temple of Reflection on a Smooth Sea) is one of the foremost Buddhist temples in South Korea. It is most notable for being the home of the Tripitaka Koreana, the whole of the Buddhist Scriptures carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks, which it has housed since 1398. Haeinsa is one of the Three Jewel Temples of Korea, and represents Dharma or the Buddha’s teachings. It is located on Gaya Mountain in South Gyeongsang Province. It is still an active Seon practice center in modern times, and was the home temple of the influential Rev. Seongcheol, who died in 1993. The Tripitaka Koreana (lit. Goryeo Tripitaka) or Palman Daejanggyeong ("Eighty-Thousand Tripitaka") is a Korean collection of the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures, and the Sanskrit word for "three baskets"), carved onto 81,340 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. It is the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Chinese script, with no known errors or errata in the 52,382,960 characters which are organized in over 1496 titles and 6568 volumes. Each wood block measures 70 centimeters in width and 24 centimeters in length. The thickness of the blocks range from 2.6 to 4 centimeters and each weights about three to four kilograms. The work is stored in Haeinsa, a Buddhist temple in South Gyeongsang province, in South Korea. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. For 360 degree imaging of this site, click here.